Don op
ened the front door for us, and as soon as Lino swept me inside, he set me on my feet. A glance down at my socks made me grimace. I must have looked ridiculous, stepping out of the house without shoes, but I only had a minute to feel the horror of it before Don filled my vision.
His fingers reached out, tentatively touching the light, faded bruises on my throat. The sound of footsteps coming into the foyer interrupted the moment, and he cleared his throat as his nostrils flared. He turned to stare at Ivory where she stood beside Matteo, Scar, and Enzo. "You can cover this up, yes?" he asked Ivory. She nodded, her brow furrowing as tears stung her eyes.
"Yeah Don, I can cover it up," she agreed.
"Good. My girl does not get married with any trace of that stronzo on her skin. Do you hear me?" he asked, and I sniffled back my tears at the rage in his voice. How pissed he had to have been to curse. Drawing me into his arms, he squeezed me so tight I thought I might stop breathing.
"I'm okay," I whispered, but he never responded. His body just shook as he ran his hands over my head.
"I hear you, sweetheart," Ivory murmured. Don pulled away, nodding to her and blinking back his own watery eyes before he turned for the kitchen. With the sudden empty space in front of me, I tried not to feel uncomfortable. I'd been in Matteo's home before, but something felt different, like there'd been a shift since the last time Ivory had invited me for lunch.
Every face was familiar—someone I knew and spent time with—but the way they looked at me had changed. Matteo's face was twisted in fury, his eyes stuck on my neck and only Ivory clearing her throat made him drop the terrifying look. Lino tugged me into his side briefly, kissing my temple as my eyes drifted down to the blanketed bundle that Matteo held in his arms.
"I'll watch over my Little Moon, while you help Samara get ready, Angel," Matteo murmured, pressing a brief kiss to his wife's lips before turning his attention back to the little bundle in his arms. She stepped forward, taking my arm and glaring at Lino briefly as if daring him to deny her right to take me away.
"You can put the dress in the first bedroom at the top of the stairs, Georgio," Ivory said, and he nodded before making his way for the stairs in haste. I had no doubt that the men couldn't wait until they could gossip like women once we were out of the way.
They were worse than most of the women I knew, honestly.
She guided me up the steps, and I resisted the urge to glance back at Lino. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me feel so uncertain. "Just a little farther. Then you can break," she urged as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I nodded to her, fighting back the threat of tears.
"Angel," Matteo called and the two of us froze on the steps. I turned back to watch him raise his eyebrows at his wife, as if he could sense her sympathy for me. "She's ready in an hour, yeah?" The walls of my cage closed tighter, clutching around me with the confirmation that they all knew. They all knew I didn't want this, that I didn't want to be there.
They didn't care in the slightest.
"Yes, Teo," Ivory murmured back, and we continued on until we could hide away in the bedroom. Georgio hurried past us at the top of the stairs, and we stepped into the privacy of the bedroom a moment later. The white fabric of the dress draped over the navy blue bedding artfully, like Georgio had taken the time to arrange it just so rather than just dropping it and running like he actually had.
The door to the bathroom was propped open, and Ivory led me straight for it. "It's okay. You know Lino loves you," she reassured me, but I sniffled back the threat of tears. I couldn't cry again, couldn't actually break.
Not when I only had an hour.
"Not like this," I whimpered as she drew me in for a hug. "Congratulations," I whispered, huffing a sardonic laugh. "I couldn't see her, not with the way Matteo kept her all wrapped up, but I'm sure she's perfect."
Ivory's smooth laugh came from above my head, and it immediately brought back memories of when we'd been closer friends in high school. Of the days when she'd been infectious and happy and filled with all the joy that her relationship with Matteo had brought to my innocent friend. Since the wedding, she'd started finding her way back to that, and I couldn't have been happier for her.
"She is," she sighed, and I could feel the smile in her voice. "You could have one too, you know."
I laughed, because it was ridiculous to think of Lino and I having children. Until two days earlier, he'd never so much as kissed me. "I don't want him to resent me," I admitted. "If he marries me, what happens when he finds someone he actually wants to marry down the line? I'll be in the way, and it will be for the stupidest reason."
Ivory pulled back, putting her hands on my shoulders as she stared at me intently. "Trust me when I say that will never happen, okay? I get the distinct impression that Lino is a lot like his cousin, assuming you can just magically read him. It's okay that we can't, but even Matteo only told me he loved me the day before he put a ring on my finger. You just have to grab Lino and shake him and make him tell you how he feels about you."
“I don’t think I want to know the answer,” I admitted.
“You want him. You have always wanted him, so why have you been crying?"
Ivory turned me to the mirror as she lifted my head up and touched gentle fingers to my throat. "He threatened to lock me away. It's Lino. I just—I never thought he'd hurt me."
She sighed, dropping her fingers from my throat and shaking her head with disappointment on her face. "He shouldn't have done that. These men, they don't know how to cope with the thought that something could hurt us. That need to protect us at all costs, that's their way of saying they love us before they ever find the words." She resumed her work on my throat, working the cover up into my skin.
"That's not—"
"It's not okay. What he did to you isn't even remotely okay, and I know that right now you're wondering how you can ever get past it. But you will, and I promise you that what is waiting on the other side is going to be beautiful." With the faint bruises on my neck finally covered, she set to doing my makeup.
"And what if it's not? I’m so happy that you and Matteo got through all that, but what if that never happens for us? Where does that leave me?"
"If nothing else," she answered, and her voice was uncharacteristically soft. "You're safer with Lino than you are alone. Just give it a chance. You owe it to yourself to try," Ivory sighed, picking up some eyeliner. "Besides, your mother should be here soon." She winced when my eyes widened, and she drew a huge line over my eyebrow.